Bar 21, Sheraton Rio Hotel, Rio de Janeiro

Alan writes:”On entering a restaurant in Sao Paulo the other week, I spotted a glass of Guinness being poured from a bottle at the bar. Having a thirst, I decided to ask for one too ! However, to my surprise it was no Guinness but a bottle of Xingu beer from Brazil. Xingu beer (pronounced “shin-goo”) looks very like Guinness or even a Sweetheart Stout but it’s certainly not after one sip ! It’s a very dark brown colour, almost black and when poured has a small tanny foam that quickly receeds. The smell is a bit of hops mixed in with a plum aroma for good measure. A slight aftertaste of licorice is also present. It is relatively light bodied and not too fizzy either so easy to drink a few while watching the sun go down over the ocean in Rio de Janeiro’s beachfront. Since Brazil microbreweries are all but bought up by the big brewing conglomerates these days (AmBev, Grupo Schincariol, Petropolis and Heineken), Xingu still stands out as a quality microbrew beer and get’s it’s name after a river in the Amazon rainforest. Nowadays, Xingu is exported to the US, Australia and the UK.”

Alan adds: “The place to be and to find Xingu is in Bar 121 inside the Sheraton Rio Hotel (Avenida Niemeyer 121, Leblon, Rio de Janeiro) sitting with the view over the ocean.”

However you can save yourself the price of a plane fare to Rio and about 24 hours of travelling time by buying Xingu from Tesco’s.